“What was so special about the president coming is that I’m a native New Yorker, so I’m born and raised here, and it happens that the part of the Bronx he visited was the part where I spent my childhood,” former WCBS reporter Steve Reed recalls.

The president vowed to develop the area, which is now known as Charlotte Gardens.

“The fact that a president came to the neighborhood, went to the site of the symbol of urban decay – to me, was exciting and kindled the idea of possibility that all is not lost,” Reed says.